Prosecutors delivered a scathing rebuttal Wednesday to defense summations in the corruption trial of state Sen. Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, giving jurors a lesson in elementary school literature in the process.

Evoking children’s author Shel Silverstein and a poem in the book “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” prosecutor Jason Masimore compared Dean’s power as ex-Senate majority leader to a giant gorilla that a little boy rides in order to gain respect from his classmates.

“That’s kind of what it’s like here — the gorilla in this case is the power of the office of the Senate majority leader,” said Masimore, drawing a couple of chuckles in Manhattan federal court.

Dean and Adam are accused of using the dad’s political muscle to pressure companies into giving the son two jobs he wasn’t qualified for or didn’t show up to, on top of a $20,000 check for bogus “title referral work.”

Masimore said execs at AbTech Industries, Glenwood Management and Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers complied with Dean’s constant requests to give Adam work and cash because the pol’s “power — his gorilla — is right there, breathing in your face.”

“Did Adam deserve these things, earn these things? No,” the prosecutor added, as his boss, US Attorney Preet Bharara, looked on from the back of the courtroom. “They didn’t want Sen. Skelos to unleash this gorilla.”

Masimore’s hour-long rebuttal came after defense attorneys for the Skeloses delivered their own closing arguments, which focused, in part, on relationships — like that of a concerned father trying to manage his son.

The Skeloses in court on Wednesday.Sketch - Shirley Shepard

“There is absolutely nothing wrong for a father to be involved and concerned for his son. You can be a state senator and you can be a father,” Dean’s lawyer, G. Robert Gage, told the dozen jurors and three alternates.

He also argued there was no “link” throughout the four-week trial that Dean pushed through specific legislation to directly benefit the three companies, in exchange for hooking Adam up.

“There was no quid pro quo. Sen. Skelos never sold his office — it has never been bought or sold. There is no crime,” said Gage.

He said the positions that Dean took on legislation that concerned AbTech, Glenwood and PRI were ones he supported since the ‘80s.

Prosecutors say Dean pressured the CEO of PRI into giving Adam a $78,000 no-show job, and then later, a $10,000-a-month job at AbTech — on top of a $20,000 check for title referral work he didn’t do.

Adam’s attorney, Christopher Conniff, placed the blame on key government witnesses Charles Dorego, who works for Glenwood, and Anthony Bonomo, who heads PRI.

“Why did Adam get those jobs? I submit to you it had nothing to do with bribery or extortion and everything to do with the personal motivation of Charlie Dorego and Anthony Bonomo,” said Conniff.

Dean Skelos with his wife, Gail, after trial on Wednesday.David McGlynn

Dorego, he said, gave Adam a job because of his political pedigree and to advance his own career, while Bonomo, a longtime pal of the senator’s, hired him out of good will.

Conniff said the dozens of emails and wiretapped phone calls jurors heard during the trial were nothing more than “salacious stuff.”

“All this material introduced is to distract you from the weaknesses in the government’s case,” Conniff said.

Earlier Wednesday morning, prosecutor Rahul Mukhi wrapped up his closings from the day before, saying the Skeloses had a clear message for their alleged extortion victims: “Don’t mess with Adam Skelos because messing with Adam means messing with the senator, messing with the majority leader.”

On Thursday, Judge Kimba Wood will continue reading the jury the criminal charges against the Skeloses, after which the panel of eight women and four men will begin deliberations.